Navigate weight decisions across life stages
Should You Try to Maintain Your Weight During Pregnancy?
Learn why pregnancy weight maintenance is not a universal goal, how weight-gain ranges vary, and what trimester calorie guidance means.
No: maintaining exactly the same weight is not a goal everyone should adopt during pregnancy, and intentional weight loss generally should not be the goal either. Some weight gain is expected, but an appropriate goal depends on your weight before pregnancy and your individual health. Set that goal with your health care provider rather than trying to hold the scale at one number. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) advises against trying to lose weight while pregnant, and the CDC recommends working with a provider on weight-gain goals.
Why there is no universal maintenance target
General weight-gain guidance uses prepregnancy body mass index (BMI), not a single target for every pregnant person. For a full-term pregnancy with one baby, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics lists these total pregnancy gain ranges:
| Prepregnancy BMI category | General total-gain range |
|---|---|
| Underweight | 28–40 pounds |
| Healthy weight | 25–35 pounds |
| Overweight | 15–25 pounds |
| Obesity | 11–20 pounds |
These are guidance, not personalized targets or amounts to gain each trimester. The NIDDK specifies that its general ranges are for a pregnancy with one baby. A pregnancy with twins calls for a different discussion; your health circumstances matter too. Even the lower general ranges call for some gain over the pregnancy, so they do not establish a flat-weight goal.
Do the trimester calorie figures give you a daily target?
No. The CDC’s general guidance says the first trimester does not usually require extra calories. It suggests about 340 additional calories per day in the second trimester and about 450 additional calories per day in the third. “Additional” is the key word: these figures are increases relative to an individual’s needs, not a prescription to eat 340 or 450 calories in total, or a universal total daily intake.
How much food and how many calories someone needs also depends on factors such as their weight before pregnancy, age and rate of weight gain, according to the NIDDK. The trimester figures alone therefore cannot tell you your personal daily energy requirement. They do not establish that everyone needs to count calories or provide a calorie-counting plan.
If counting calories has led you to consider cutting back to keep your weight unchanged or to lose weight, discuss that goal with your health care professional first. As a Cleveland Clinic explanation notes, trying to lose weight during pregnancy can mean missing nutrients you need. A small amount of weight loss can happen at the start of pregnancy; the NIDDK recommends speaking with a health care professional if it happens to you.
What if your weight is not following the range?
Track your weight as advised during prenatal care and bring changes or unexpectedly low gain to your provider rather than trying to force the scale toward a number. The CDC recommends tracking gain regularly and comparing progress with recommended ranges. That comparison is a starting point for a conversation, not a reason to begin a weight-loss diet.
There is an important distinction between gaining less than a general range and setting out to lose weight. In a 2013 ACOG committee opinion, ACOG reported that, for a pregnant woman classified as overweight who was gaining below the cited Institute of Medicine range and whose fetus was growing appropriately, there was no evidence that urging her to gain more to meet the range improved maternal or fetal outcomes. That qualified observation does not make below-range gain a goal for everyone or establish that intentional weight loss is safe. It does show why the range and your circumstances should be discussed together with your clinician.